Lawson Copley is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern.  He holds faculty  positions at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas (CMC) and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRHC) and has 21 years of practice experience.  Since 2003, he has led a multi-disciplinary initiative at CMC to improve care for children with musculoskeletal infection.  His team developed clinical practice guidelines and conducted collaborative research on human and bacterial genetic determinants of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis due to MRSA.  He serves on the National Bone and Joint Infection Guideline Panel of PIDS/IDSA.  His musculoskeletal infection program is recognized by the American Board of Pediatrics as a Maintenance of Certification Quality Improvement Project and by the Joint Commission as its first and only Certified Disease Specific Care Program for pediatric musculoskeletal infection.  He has authored 70 manuscripts, review articles and textbook chapters. 

Dr. Copley is board certified in Orthopaedic Surgery and Clinical Informatics.  He has a Master’s in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.  He is Certified in EpicCare Ambulatory and SmartForms and has led teams of analysts during the implementation and optimization of Epic at CMC (2009 and 2014) and TSRHC (2016) as Chief Medical Information Officer.  He has been the Chairman of Epic’s Pediatric Orthopaedic Subspecialty Steering Board and the Chairman of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America’s Practice Management Committee.

Dr. Copley currently serves as a Colonel in the United States Air Force in the role of Medical Squadron Commander, orthopaedic surgeon, and flight surgeon for the 301^st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth.  He is a father of three children (Bennett 19, Austin 18, and Ellis 16).  His oldest has an appointment at the United States Air Force Adademy.